Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, not granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, co-operates with retinoic acid on the induction of functional N-formyl-methionyl-phenylalanine receptors in HL-60 cells.

The interaction of colony-stimulating factors (CSF) and retinoic acid (RA) in the proliferation and differentiation of HL-60 cells was examined. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulated the proliferation of HL-60 cells in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations of 0.01-100 ng/ml; however, the proliferation due to GM-CSF was suppressed by 100 nM RA. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) slightly stimulated the proliferation of HL-60 cells at concentrations above 10 ng/ml. Neither G-CSF nor GM-CSF alone induced 12-o-tetra-decanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA)- or N-formyl-methionyl-phenylalanine (FMLP)-stimulated nitro-blue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction at concentrations of 0.01-100 ng/ml. G-CSF induced TPA- and FMLP-stimulated NBT reduction in the presence of 100 nM RA, but GM-CSF induced only TPA-stimulated NBT reduction. RA in addition to G-CSF synergistically increased FMLP binding to HL-60 cells, accompanied by increased NBT reduction in response to FMLP. RA in addition to GM-CSF markedly increased FMLP binding to HL-60 cells more than that induced by RA alone, but the combined treatment with RA and GM-CSF did not increase FMLP-stimulated NBT reduction more than that induced by RA alone. The results suggest that G-CSF stimulates RA-induced morphological and functional differentiation of HL-60 cells, but the differentiation-enhancing effects of GM-CSF are limited, whereas the growth-stimulating effect of GM-CSF on HL-60 cells is greater than that of G-CSF.